Trying to come up with a brandable, cool-sounding name for your business? I want to walk you through the process of some of the biggest brands out there and see if we can come up with another billion dollar company name.
First – watch our new TikTok on 7 Different Ways to Create Your Business Name below or click here:
@thebusinesskid Business Week: 7 Ways to Create a Unique Business Name ##business ##biz ##name ##unique ##businessname
♬ original sound – ILoveMakingMoney
The seven different ways to come up with a business name:
- Domain Name Marketplace
- Acronym
- Compound Word
- Portmanteau
- Drop a Letter
- Add Numbers
- Mythology
- Your Own Name
Domain Name Marketplace
There are domain name marketplaces that specialize in renting and selling domain names. These domain names are perfect for building your brand so I'm including it on this list. You can find the best marketplace for domain names at:
- Sedo
- Dan.com
- Epik.com
- Domahub
- GoDaddy
- Domain.com
- Name.com
- NameCheap
Related: The Best Domain Names on Dan.com Marketplace
Using an Acronym for Your Business Name
You could use an acronym to create your business name. Think of the “longer” version of your name like Consumer Value Stores and then, shorten it to CVS.
Company Names with Acronyms
- CVS – Consumer Value Store
- K-Mart – Kresge, founder.
- M&M's – Mars and Murrie's, founders.
- MAC – Make-Up Art Cosmetics
- KFC – Kentucky Fried Chicken
- IKEA – Company's founder's initials PLUS farm he grew up on.
- DHL – Founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn.
- AT&T – American Telephone and Telegraph
- H&M – Hennes and Maurtiz (Swedish for Hers and His)
- 3M – Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
- Geico – Government Employees Insurance Company
- PF Chang's – Founder Paul Fleming PLUS Founding Chef, Philip Chang.
- H&R Block – founded by Henry and Richard Bloch brothers
Using a Compound Word for Your Company Name
You could use a compound word to create your business name. The easiest way to do this is to take an “action” of your market and then add your “service”. “Action” PLUS “Service” = Compound Word.
For example, Bark Box. This can be a simple way to create a new company name because they are easy to say, easy to spell, and easy to remember.
Company Names Using Compound Words
- AutoZone
- CafePress
- CubeSmart
- GameStop
- Groupon
- HomeAway
- PetSmart
- TripAdvisor
- WordPress
Using Portmanteau to Create Your Biz Name
You could use a portmanteau to create your business name. The easiest way to do this is to take the old way of running your business like yellow pages and then, combine it with another word “help” to come up with YELP.
A portmanteau is just a combination of words like brunch (breakfast and lunch). I've seen very successful startups use this approach.
Companies Who Use Portmanteau Words to Form Biz Name
- Skype = Sky & Peer to Peer
- Yelp = Yellow Pages & Help
- Groupon = Group & Coupon
- Netflix = Internet & Flicks
- Wikipedia = Wiki & Encyclopedia
“Drop a Letter” to Form Your Business Name
You could also drop a letter from a word to form your business name. The easiest way to do this is to think of generic words and verbs that make up your business. And then, drop one letter. Which one is short, punchy and you think would be brandable. (i.e. Tumblr)
This was a trend back in mid-2000's to drop a letter to create your company name.
Company Name Examples Who Dropped a Letter
- Flickr
- Grindr
- Tumblr
- Scrbd
Using Mythology for Your Company Name
You could also take characters from Greek mythology to create your business name. Very similar to Midas – who was the son of Zeus and turned everything he touched into gold. Now, it's a brake company.
Business Names Inspired by Greek Mythology
- Nike – Goddess of Victory
- Midas – Zeus's Son
- Amazon – Powerful Women Warriors
- Hermes – God of Travel
- Pandora – First Mortal Woman
Add Numbers to Create Your Biz Name
You could also take numbers from your zip code or area code to create your business name. If you have a bike company and live in Dallas, you could be 214 Bikes.
Ideas for Numbers in Your Business Name
- Area Code
- Zip Codes
- Airports
And then, you could use these additional ideas:
- City Nicknames
- College Mascots
Use Your Own Name to Form Your Business Name
And then, you could use your own name for create your business name. This is very popular for accountants, coaches, consultants, lawyers, doctors, architects, real estate and insurance.
Create a Point System to Test Winning Business Names
If you're having a hard time coming up with a business name, try these techniques and then, create a number system to rank the business name. You can eliminate the lowest ranking ideas.
For example, take these factors and create a point system.
- Poor = 0 Points
- Okay = 1 Point
- Good = 2 Points
- Excellent = 3 Points
Then, list the factors that are important to you.
- Easy to Spell
- Easy to Remember
- Easy to Say Outloud
- Available Domain Name
- Available Trademark
- Available in Your State
- No Negative Meaning
- Brandable
- Allows for Future Products and Services
- Available Across Social Media Platforms
Other Ways for Coming Up with a Great Business Name
- Combine two meaningful words.
- Lookup foreign words within your niche.
- Zoom in on the map for names (i.e. Amazon)
- What does your product remind you of?
- Abbreviate your company name or a word.
- Choose a random word in the Dictionary (i.e. Twitter)
When I ran this test for I Love Making Money. I gave it 3 for easy to spell. 3 for easy to remember. 3 for easy to say outloud. The domain name was not available, but it was listed on SEDO for sale. Everything was available. It's highly brandable and the content is evergreen. After a few weeks of telling all my friends and business partners that they should build this out, go for it, I decided that was my sign to run with it. So I did…
If you like this business name ideas list, then bookmark it and share with someone you know who has been talking about it. Most of our advertising is word of mouth marketing, and we greatly appreciate your help.
